The Fright Stuff

If you don’t love the idea of a horror-film festival inside the haunted hotel that inspired The Shining, you don’t really love horror. Clearly, the people behind the Stanley Film Festival do, because that’s exactly what they’ve delivered with this inaugural fright fest. “It’s more than just showing films; it’s using the space and the location to really enhance what we’re screening and make it a more special experience,” explains Landon Zakheim, festival programming director. “The first thing I thought when this came along was getting a bunch of horror filmmakers together to run around a haunted hotel. Seeing that image made me want to do this.”

The fest kicks off tonight with The Purge, a futuristic home-invasion thriller, followed by a Shining-themed party and a showing of All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. The next three days are packed with more programming, parties and panels, from creature features like Frankenstein’s Army to an erudite debate about The Shining’s secrets that includes Room 237 director Rodney Ascher and Stanley Kubrick’s personal assistant. There will even be a Sunday-morning Horror Brunch and Bloody (Mary) Awards Ceremony hosted by An-drew Novick and a fest-concluding Zombie Crawl that same afternoon.

It all starts at 7:30 p.m. today in the Concert Hall of the Stanley Hotel, 333 East Wonderview Avenue in Estes Park. Tickets to single screenings start at $10; for a full schedule and to purchase tickets or passes, visit stanleyfilmfest.com.
May 2-5, 2013